Zimbabwe's neighbours on Monday intensified efforts to break an impasse threatening a fragile unity government, as Congolese leader Joseph Kabila met with feuding leaders and a new summit was set for this week.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai suspended co-operation with long-ruling President Robert Mugabe more than two weeks ago, accusing the 85-year-old leader of failing to live up to his side of Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal.

The deadlock has heightened fears about the fate of the unity accord, which was meant to end deadly political violence that erupted after last year's failed presidential elections.

Kabila, who currently heads the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), flew to Harare late on Sunday and met Mugabe on Monday for more than four hours before holding talks with Tsvangirai in the evening.

"He gave me assurance that Sadc is committed to see this country move forward and to make sure that the train is back on the rails," said Tsvangirai.

"There is common cause that the GPA (unity pact) must be fulfilled. It's a question of how to implement it."

'A positive discussion'

The DR Congo leader has insisted that both parties must respect the deal, which was brokered by the 15-nation regional bloc which has called a special meeting for Thursday to make a new push for a resolution in Zimbabwe.

Kabila met junior ruling partner Arthur Mutambara after Tsvangirai and described the talks with Mugabe as "a positive discussion".

"There is a problem within the Zimbabwe government; that is a fact. But the situation has not gotten out of hand," he said on Friday.

"As the region we believe that the agreement signed last year is still binding. Any amendments must be made within the framework of that agreement," said Kabila.

Sadc's security troika sent a team of mediators to Zimbabwe last week, but the talks resulted only in new recriminations, with Mugabe saying Tsvangirai's party was untrustworthy.

"They can never be true and genuine partners and they have proved to be dishonest," Mugabe said.

"He will listen to what he regards as a mix of progress," veteran leader Mugabe predicted about Kabila's response to Thursday's special Sadc meeting in neighbouring Mozambique.

"He will say at the same time, you are grown-ups, intelligent people. You went into the inclusive government knowing the handicap. Why don't you sit down and discuss them rather than run away from them."

A special summit

Mozambique, head of the security body, announced that it would convene a special summit on Thursday with fellow troika members Swaziland and Zambia.

"They have to move, if this fails then there is need for an extraordinary Sadc summit of heads of states," said Tsvangirai after meeting Kabila for slightly less than an hour.

The stalemate in Harare comes after months of bickering over the unity deal.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says that party supporters remain the target of arrests and intimidation, despite guarantees of political freedoms under the unity deal.

The MDC also insists that the government must replace the attorney general and the central bank governor, who is blamed the collapse of the local currency.

But Tsvangirai only suspended co-operation with Mugabe after Roy Bennett, nominee for deputy agriculture minister, was again arrested on terror charges, in a case that has become a symbol of the government's unresolved challenges.

For its part, Mugabe's party accuses the MDC of failing to lobby Western nations for the lifting of a travel ban and asset freeze on the president and about 200 of his family members and allies.

The unity government is meant to draft a new constitution that would pave the way for fresh elections, and regional leaders are eager for the deal to hold.

AFP

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